SUMANTBAWARI (Software Engg) 11 April 2014

Electricity theft-who is responsible

Dear Experts,

Below is a summary of my situation followed by the questions I am seeking your legal opinions for:

1) We are owners of an apartment in a CHS in MUMBAI.The sole resident of this apartment is my mother. The normal consumption of the flat when occupied is around 175 units with an average bill of 780 Rs/-

2) My mother has been outside the country since August 2013 and so we have no consumption of electricity at our place.

3) From December 2013 upto March 2014 electricity consumption is being shown by Reliance Energy and this consumption is even higher than what we have used in the last three years.

4) We were not aware of the high consumption until we got a notification from our neighbor stating that Reliance has taken away our meter.

5) We lodged a complaint with Reliance stating the facts of the case but Reliance energy states that since they provided the electricity and since someone consumed it we the consumer have to pay the bills to get back your meter. (Total bill amounts for three months is now over 25000 Rs/-)

So my questions are:

1) If there is a theft of electricity is it the responsibility of the energy company to investigate this or can they simply put the ownership on the consumer?

2) In the above case what legal recourse do we have to get the energy company to negogiate and settle this matter?

Please let us know your learned opinion on this matter.

Regards,

Reply Follow

4 Replies

Sudhir Kumar, Advocate (Advocate) 12 April 2014

1) If there is a theft of electricity is it the responsibility of the energy company to investigate this or can they simply put the ownership on the consumer?

Ans : Yes. Theft of electricity if any is (as apparrent from given facts) is after it has crossed you meter. You were responsible to guard it while house was locked. The it is possible that you did not switch off the mains while leaving house vaccant and someone go access to some point and used electricity. Supply company does not have any jurisdiction to check the same.

2) In the above case what legal recourse do we have to get the energy company to negotiate and settle this matter?

Ans : Pay the bill unless the company agrees to negotiate.

SUMANTBAWARI (Software Engg) 12 April 2014

Dear Mr Sudhir Kumar,

Thank you for your reply.In our case the meter is not in our apartment but is in the meter room present in the building.This room is supposedly kept under lock.In this situation is the coop society responsible for this?If yes can I bring suit against CHS for not adequately guarding the meter room and maybe even playing a part in letting the theft take place?

Sincerely,

Sudhir Kumar, Advocate (Advocate) 12 April 2014

you can sue society later on.

But

Electricity company is to be paid first and connection be restored.

Sudhir Kumar, Advocate (Advocate) 12 April 2014

now coming to feasibility of the suit against society:-

proof

you have to prove that:-

None was residing in the house during relevant period
No other point of electricity was there (except meter room) which could be acceessed during lock period (beware you may be having call bell, door light, stair case light, terrace light, balcony switch board water pump connection, alarm bell connection on water tank, etc) which can be acceessed without entry into your house.
electricity has been consumed even when house was locked
consumption of electricity was more than regular.

place of suit

you cannot sue society in consumer court. it has be in civil court only, where you expenditure may cross Rs 25000/-

liability

you have to see constitution of the society. The executive may be liable for safety of meter if the sanctioned plan approves meter in common meter room.